


Birds of a Feather

by laughablyunimportant



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Familiars, Hurt/Comfort, crow dave, witch Rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-21
Updated: 2014-06-21
Packaged: 2018-02-05 15:58:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1824097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughablyunimportant/pseuds/laughablyunimportant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose draws more energy than she ever has before through her crow familiar, Dave, during a magical fight. Her priority then becomes to escape the fight and get Dave home, where she can help him recover. The close call makes Rose re-think using Dave in this way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birds of a Feather

Dave gave a weak caw against her chest, wing fluttering in an aborted movement.

"Oh, Dave," she murmured. "I'm sorry." She was careful not to crush him as she held him against her with one hand, unlocking the door to her house and sealing the shielding spells behind her before making her back to the bathroom with a tub.

It was only a few minutes before she had the tub filled and her potions lined up along the ledge. Most of them weren't _properly_ magic, but they'd sooth his sore muscles and help him sleep. After she woke him up, of course. 

Clearing her throat, Rose uttered an oft-used spell memorized long ago through repetition, and the crow she'd been holding just above the steaming bath became a full-sized boy who, with a squawk, splashed into the water. 

Dave sputtered, righting himself in the tub before turning to look at his witch. "Rose."

She leveled her gaze at him. "Dave." He leaned forward, a hard set to his mouth, but stopped with a sudden wince, hissing. 

"Careful now." Rose slid a hand around his shoulder, easing him back to lie in the tub. "I pulled an awful lot of energy through you."

Dave settled back, eyes closing. "Damn right you did," he snorted. "Felt like I was on fucking fire." He opened one eye to peer up at her. "Did you take care of what needed taking care of?"

Rose pressed her lips in a thin line. Dave sighed, closing his eye again and tilting his head back. "Damnit Rose, why can't we ever just play by the rules?"

Rose looked down, twisting the anti-tracking ring around and around her pinkie. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

He continued on as though she hadn't spoken. "It's like, congratulations! You're a witch! Here are the keys to the fucking universe, all you have to do is not fuck it up! And we went and fucked it all up! We're like some shitty supervillain in a comicbook hunched over in a dark basement cackling that we need more power, more, more. Someone should tell that shitty villain that being able to shoot lightning from your fingers is pretty fucking cool all on its own. Who even needs world domination when you can turn invisible and sneak into all the clubs downtown without even having to pay cover? No cover, Rose! Do you even _know_ how much shiny jewelry the girls downtown wear, Rose?"

She hung her head, a smile playing around her lips. "Magpies are the ones who like shiny things. Not crows."

He lifted his head to look at her. "Well fuck that, I can hoard all the bling I want. Magpies ain't got shit on me." His eyes flicked down to look at himself before his brows furrowed. "And why am I human?"

Rose plucked up a bottle on the ledge. "Because almost all the accredited healing magic is for humans, and we agreed that I wouldn't use you to experiment with new magic on."

"Ahhh." His eyes followed her as she unstoppered the bottle and held it out to him, tilting it into his mouth when he parted his lips for her. He swallowed it as quickly as he could, trying to ignore the taste. (He hated it when he got too used to tasting things.)

He could feel the potion flow down into him, spreading out in a warmth not unlike that of alcohol. He sank down further into the bath, sighing out "Fuuuuck, that's good."

Rose stoppered the bottle back up, tossing it into the trash. "It's patching up any of the damage the energy surge might have torn in your soul."

Dave's eyebrows drew together as he opened his eyes to look back up at her. "My soul? I didn't...I thought it was mine. I didn't know that was possible."

Rose averted her gaze. "It's possible; it's the main reason witches give familiars souls to begin with. So that you can filter the energy for us and any damage done from drawing such power—"

"—is done to some poor fuck animal that didn't know it wanted to be self-aware until it was," Dave finished for her. "Well, that sucks."

"I'm sorry," Rose murmured again. "It won't happen again."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dave asked, but Rose wouldn't meet his gaze.

"Hey. Hey, look at me. Rose, c'mon." Water sloshed as he lifted a hand, banging it into the side of the tub. "Ow, fuck. Stupid human hands." More sloshing, and then he was taking her hand in his, curling his fingers around her wrist. She looked down then, wearing a wry smile that didn't reach her eyes. 

"It was unfair of me to have brought you into this mess. It's only right that I finish it on my own."

Dave sat up a little, feeling less scrubbed-raw inside, even if his muscles still ached like he'd been in flight for hours. "What? No, that's not what I meant. We're going to face these guys together, okay? I can totally take on a shady cult who got their hands on demon magic with you."

Rose raised an eyebrow at him. "You can't perform any magic. What do you propose to do? Take a delicate shit on top of any goon who is conveniently bald enough to fulfill the cliche?"

"Hey," he said, "I'm plenty deadly. I'll have you know I took down a wild turkey once."

Rose chuckled. "Oh my, how very fierce of you." She plucked up another bottle of the ledge with her free hand, saying "Here."

He opened his mouth, swallowing it down, taking a moment to shudder. "I feel like I could ooze out of this tub right now." She smiled, and he glared up at her. "But don't think you can distract me just because your potions are scary-good. I was making a point."

"Which was?"

"Which waaaas," he said, drawling out the word, "that I'm your familiar, and you're my witch. We're supposed to stick together."

Rose pursed her lips. "The only use you are is as an energy reserve, and another draw like that so soon will kill you."

He shrugged, sliding back down into the water. "Then we lay low for a while. Bide some time. You work your magic to fix me up, and then we go out and face them together. Deal?"

Rose just plucked up the last bottle, unstoppering it. "Open."

Dave sighed, opening his mouth to drink the bottle down. Immediately he started blinking, eyelids growing heavy. "Woah, what was—what was in thhat?"

Rose quirked her mouth, leaning forward to press her lips to Dave's forehead. "Shh. It'll help you recover."

Dave stared up at her suspiciously, struggling to keep his eyes open. "Fuckin' warn a guy...fuckin...still go' things t'say t'you..."

"And I'll still be here to say them to when you wake up."

"Better be," Dave mumbled, finally letting his eyes close. "Dontchu go runnin out on me L'lon."

She smiled at him fondly, though he couldn't see it. "I wouldn't dream of it."


End file.
